So after a long time researching intakes and reading quite a few topics on aftermarket intakes vs stock, I decided to do a little bit of testing on my own. I know this topic has been posted everywhere on the forums, but some people say heat soak (yes the joez pipe gets hot, but so does the stock one so I dont know why this makes it any different) and some say -5 hp gain and others swear they gain 5 hp although that's probably not noticeable on this car which is probably true because when I swapped my oem intake for joez intake I didnt notice anything... I have been driving with a joez intake and apexi filter for a couple months now and here's what I can say right off the from experience:

1) As soon as the stock intake/filter was put back on, I immediately noticed the car was running much richer. It smelled like richer fumes around the car and tail pipe. Why? I dont know maybe it's from less airflow from using the stock intake. After a drive the smell was not there, maybe the ecu adjusted for it.

2) The throttle response, the gas pedal needed to be pressed much harder to get moving, with the joez intake/filter combo the pedal was much more sensitive/touchier meaning a slight press will jerk the car forward especially in sport mode, although it didnt necessarily feel faster, but it was definitely noticeable all accross the rev range and existent.

3) The sound, when I installed the intake/filter I did not notice a sound difference, but when I removed it, you definitely dont hear that airflow sound guess it really did make a difference and I liked it better with the intake as it was more throatier sounding like a true v8.

Lastly after a few redline pulls, I could not tell a difference in power, so other than the above, I believe taking to the dyno for measured results would be the best way to differentiate what performs better.

So to truly find out which one is better as I only want best parts on my car, I guess I will be taking it a dyno here locally, not sure if anyone has heard of Church Auto, but yeah I'll probably do a few runs there to see what performs this weekend and post back the results. I know the guys there and I'm sure they can squeeze me in for a quick session

If you have any recommendations or anything you can add, feel free to post up!

EDIT** Updated Results 03/19/16

Guys so first and foremost I want to provide an update to all of you. I also wanted to let you know that I am in no way affiliated with any of the manufacture's of these products, but I do hope I helped Joe-Z boost up some sales as their products rock! I am simply a consumer just like you adding mods to my car and testing the products for result. I want to thank Joe-Z, Apexi, Borla, PPE, and Shawn Church owner of Church Automotive for making this happen.

So to the results, the Joe-Z intake (not only does it look and sound good) definitely makes the claimed 5whp consistently. What suprised me however was the APEXI drop in filter also makes 5 hp or more. AMAZING!

Take a look at the attached dyno chart, lowest run was the stock intake with stock filter, 2nd run was stock intake with apexi drop in filter, 3rd run was apexi drop in filter with joez intake pipe. As you can see, I made 12 whp/16 ft lbs of torque with both the pipe and filter. Adding the filter was simply added power while the joez pipe was icing on the cake, so whoever said these intakes do not make power or that lexus built the intake side of these cars optimal is wrong! While 5hp might not be noticeable on a 400whp+ car, 12whp and 16 torque certainly is. I knew my butt dyno felt losses in response as soon as I removed the joe z pipe and apexi filter for a week just to try it out. The biggest gripe of them all, take a look at the curve from 2krpm to 3k, that area under the curve is most likely the response I was missing when I went back to stock.

Lastly, there was a talk about the joe z pipe heat soaking, so surely I wanted to thoroughly test that as well. We did lose some hp with heatsoak as shown on the second dyno, however it wasnt that drastic, however you can clearly see that some people complain you lose response, Im sure it has to with heatsoak as you can see a noticeable difference from 2k-3k rpmns there is almost an additional 40wtorque under that curve. I have included the results on the heatsoaked intake. All runs were consistent, 3 pulls for each mod, ten minute cool down after swapping parts. We did a 4th run to test heatsoak with the joez intake and apexi filter.

So there you have it folks, I spent my own money on all these parts and tested these parts in a real independent dyno, I am not affiliated with anyone so I have nothing to prove other than to myself on what gains I received. Please feel free to share this along with anyone who is looking into upgrading the intake side of the isf.

If it helps, Shawn stated that stock rcfs dyno 405 whp here and now that I have a baseline saved, I can go back with a catless xpipe and ecu tune to see how much more I can extract out of this car.

Overall I am very happy with the results and money was well spent. Now that you have the results, I'm sure you should figure what intake I decided to drive home in. Enjoy guys! Last pic is just a good bye pic. Shawn's 700whp ddriven caddy is also pictured in the background.

Had tried an HPS Silicone, then tried a JoeZ, then bought a Carson Tuned silicone (which was a replica of the ICODE).

I switched between the OEM paper element and AFE filter.

My experience was kinda opposite of yours though, the stock intake tube felt like it had the best throttle response, and every time I tell myself to keep the intake tube for that extra 5hp lol, they all ended up making the car feel a bit sluggish in throttle response.

I reached out to caymandiver and he told me that he felt the stock intake tube performs the best, since he currently holds the quickest N/A ISF record (Running with the stock intake tube) I'll take his word for it.

It would be interesting to see another independent dyno though between the stock intake/aftermarket tube though.

I would be really surprised if it there was any difference at all really...

Had tried an HPS Silicone, then tried a JoeZ, then bought a Carson Tuned silicone (which was a replica of the ICODE).

I switched between the OEM paper element and AFE filter.

My experience was kinda opposite of yours though, the stock intake tube felt like it had the best throttle response, and every time I tell myself to keep the intake tube for that extra 5hp lol, they all ended up making the car feel a bit sluggish in throttle response.

I reached out to caymandiver and he told me that he felt the stock intake tube performs the best, since he currently holds the quickest N/A ISF record [email protected], (Running with the stock intake tube) I'll take his word for it.

It would be interesting to see another independent dyno though between the stock intake/aftermarket tube though.

I would be really surprised if it there was any difference at all really...

We'll see. Taking it to a dyno I been going to for the past 9 years and then I'll decide to keep which one to keep on the car. Regardless, I am posting my personal results here.

I tend to agree with RSXiMUS. Although I never tried the JoeZ intake tube along with some others, I did had the HPS. From my initial and previous runs, I did notice the stock intake tube had more low end grunt then the HPS.

K20trick what apexi filter are you using? drop-in? cone?
im also going to do an experiment takeda+apexi cone filter....why? i decided to go with an apexi cone filter
1. because i've used it before with my previous cars and they did excellent job filtering the dirt
2. since the cone is smaller in diameter,i can modify the takeda intake box to seal off the small open area,maybe this way it won't heat soak (although i never felt heatsoak)
3. the apexi cone filter has an opening diameter of 85mm which i think is enough for the mighty V8

i have not started with it though,quite busy.....but i'll be modifying it soon

Thanks for giving it another go round K20trick. In for results! Im currently running the stock setup, until a manufacturer can really deliver the goods in terms of reasonable power, looks, and sound!

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but JoeZ back's his intakes with dyno proven #'s and a graph right? I mean he did in the IS300 several years ago so I don't think anything has changed with how he markets his products?

I noticed throttle response pick up after switching from stock. But I'd be surprised if someone could actually feel the difference between 0-5hp. I know I can't.

But OP you're studies and up coming dyno time will be the icing on the cake. I could've sworn there was a thread long ago of someone doing something similar. But again I could be wrong.

@ Justin727 Someone correct me if I'm wrong but JoeZ back's his intakes with dyno proven #'s and a graph right? I mean he did in the IS300 several years ago so I don't think anything has changed with how he markets his products?

I noticed throttle response pick up after switching from stock. But I'd be surprised if someone could actually feel the difference between 0-5hp. I know I can't.

But OP you're studies and up coming dyno time will be the icing on the cake. I could've sworn there was a thread long ago of someone doing something similar. But again I could be wrong.

I think you're referring to this thread I linked above. Correct, Joe Z has provided the above mentioned, which is one of the many reasons I respect Joe. With the newly developments of our cars being tuned. I'm awaiting for someone to eventually re create something substantial. Which may never be the case. But, Until there's a product that Everyone can agree that doesn't heat soak, doesn't create sluggish throttle response, and the above I mentioned earlier. I'm keeping it stock. I am aware Toyota R&D the hell out of the Induction/Intake system in our cars.

K20trick what apexi filter are you using? drop-in? cone?
im also going to do an experiment takeda+apexi cone filter....why? i decided to go with an apexi cone filter
1. because i've used it before with my previous cars and they did excellent job filtering the dirt
2. since the cone is smaller in diameter,i can modify the takeda intake box to seal off the small open area,maybe this way it won't heat soak (although i never felt heatsoak)
3. the apexi cone filter has an opening diameter of 85mm which i think is enough for the mighty V8

i have not started with it though,quite busy.....but i'll be modifying it soon

The apexi drop in filter. Got it from a vendor here ModInJapan when they had the sale. I bought the apexi over anything else because I have a buddy who flow tested filters and his results came back with apexi being the highest flow.

I would not run a takeda intake on this car, nor would I run an open filter element, sure it sounds good, but it made my previous car run like crap with it on. I dont know how manufacturers get away with claiming hp gains when there are loss's and it actually makes your car run like crap without the factory box.